Letters to the Editor

Oct. 28, 2016

Environmentalism Has a Past

To the Editor:

In her review of Kate Beasley’s “Gertie’s Leap to Greatness” (Oct. 9), Elisabeth Egan confesses to finding the “environmentalism angle” of Beasley’s novel inconsistent with its “oddly old-fashioned” world, assuming that the presence of environmental concerns means that Beasley “means to set her story in the present.”

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, which also saw the passage of the Clean Air Act and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. I myself distinctly remember collecting aluminum cans around that time (though we had to be careful not to confuse them with steel beverage cans) and agitating for the local government to preserve open space. During his presidency (1977-81), Jimmy Carter had many notable environmental achievements, including installing solar panels in the White House, preserving Alaskan wilderness and establishing the Superfund toxic cleanup program.

It does not strain my belief at all that Beasley’s characters could both watch “The Waltons” (1971-81) and start Clean Earth Clubs at school.

PENNY HARPER

TUALATIN, ORE.

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Vásquez and His Tradition

To the Editor:

I was enjoying Yiyun Li’s review of “Reputations,” by the Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Oct. 9), until she contrasted his work with that of Gabriel García Márquez. That’s when I groaned. With all due respect to the great García Márquez, it really should be possible by now to review a Colombian author without referring to him.

Then, when Li quoted a sentence from “Reputations” that mentions James Joyce and concluded that Vásquez’s new book marks him “as a Colombian writer working fully in the European tradition,” the affront was too much. First, what does “European” even mean? Second, does the reviewer think conferring European status on a Latin American writer is the ultimate accolade? It isn’t. It’s condescending.

HELEN CUNNINGHAM

NEW YORK

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One Dress, One Suit

To the Editor:

Perhaps your reviewer (and the author, Jane L. Rosen) were unaware that Rosen’s book “Nine Women, One Dress” (Shortlist, Oct. 16) is reminiscent of the movie “Tales of Manhattan” (1942). In the film, an anthology of short segments, all with different writers and featuring a galaxy of movie stars (Charles Laughton, Henry Fonda, Paul Robeson, Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, et al.), a man’s formal tailcoat suit descends the class ladder from a 1-percenter to a variety of owners, each drawing valuable insights from the possession of the garment.

MONTE WASCH

NEW LEBANON, N.Y.

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‘Ike’s Gamble’

To the Editor:

It is difficult to discern if David Frum’s piece about “Ike’s Gamble” (Oct. 16) is a book review or a polemic against the Obama administration’s foreign policy. Frum’s ideologically influenced criticism soft-pedals Kermit Roosevelt’s involvement in the coup against Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, and ignores the costly legacy of the shah. It is interesting that Frum criticizes President Eisenhower for his peaceful outreach to Nasser but does not mention our failures at regime change in Iran and Iraq.

Eisenhower delivered eight years of peace, ended the Korean conflict, defused the Suez Crisis and peacefully engaged Khrushchev and Nasser. He set an exemplary standard of consensus-driven allied cooperation in our foreign policy as opposed to the cowboy interventionism of the Bush-Cheney years.

TERRY MASTERSON

NORTHAMPTON, MASS.

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A Different Anger

To the Editor:

Jason DeParle’s timid review of “Strangers in Their Own Land” (Sept. 25) repeats the common view about anger among Tea Partiers, but seems oblivious to another kind of anger at large. I don’t drive a Lexus, I don’t cut in lines and at 81 I am working a little more than full time, but I am furious that Americans in large numbers “hate government” and have a crush on incipient fascism. Is that to be our story in the history of civilizations — that it only took 250 years for Americans to crave a leader who will make decisions for them based on his own ego, minimal vision, scrambled intelligence and paranoia?

There are always people enchanted by leaders who tell them they have all the answers; but however angry the Tea Partiers may be, it makes me even more furious to imagine one of their idols in the cabinet room during the Cuban missile crisis. The Tea Partiers in Louisiana may feel like strangers in their own land, which is terrible, but why do the rest of us have to feel guilty because of their ignorance?

SANDY KAYE

DEDHAM, MASS.

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